Father’s Day Sermon Ideas

It’s almost mother’s day in the United States, which means Father’s Day is right around the corner, and social media is about to be inundated with pictures and posts saying, “Happy Father’s Day!”

I thought it would be a great idea to find out what the Word of God says about the kind of father we should be. The best way to learn about fatherhood is to look to the perfect father we have in heaven.
As pastors begin to prepare their fathers day sermon, they will no doubt speak of our heavenly father as an example to be a good father and a godly father here on earth.

When I was a little boy, I looked to my earthly father as an example of who I should strive to become. He definitely taught me a lot about how to tell dad jokes and was a great spiritual example. I love him and hope he has a happy fathers day.

As I have grown in my Christian life and into a greater understanding of the love of God, I know that no human father can be the best father they can be without the help of the Holy Spirit. When I had my own children, I gained a different perspective of what the Bible means when it teaches us about the kingdom of God and the idea of God being a loving father.

What I want to do with this article is give some father’s day sermon outline ideas as well as a look into what it takes to be a christian father. I hope they will help us learn more about the father’s plan and help men grow into great spiritual fathers and the godly man that God wants them to be.

Here are some sermon ideas (or lessons for a Sunday School class) that can be used for Father’s Day. I have also included some Bible verses to get you started as you prepare for your church service.

Father’s Day Sermons

  • The apostle Paul and his relationship with Timothy: This is a great way to show the importance of godly role models for young men. You can find most of the relationship between Paul and Timothy in 1 and 2 Timothy, especially the parts where he calls Timothy his son and speaks to him directly, giving him instructions and speaking to him as if he were his own father.
  • God as the ultimate father of every Christian: When Jesus teaches his apostles to pray (in Matthew 9:6-13 and Luke 11:2-4) he shows them a lot about the family of God. His prayer beginning with “Our Father” gives us a lot of insight into how God is our Father. You could potentially use this as a springboard to showing God’s fatherly love for His followers.
  • The heart of God for the entire world: In John 3:16, the Bible expresses the father’s plan to send our Lord Jesus Christ to the whole world. This shows God’s heart for the world as that of a father who wants to save His people from their sins.
  • The story of the prodigal son and the father’s response (Luke 15:11-32): Even though we (and our kids) make a huge mistake, the love of God never fails. We always have an opportunity for a second chance.
  • The relationship between the Father and His Son Christ Jesus is evident throughout the gospels. There are many passages that speak to the love and communion between the Father and the Son, which makes their relationship a great example with practical ideas for us in our earthly relationships.
  • What does the Old Testament teach us about Father’s Day? There are examples of Fatherhood (Abraham and Isaac), instructions for fathers (Deuteronomy 6), and many other ideas that you could use from the Old Testament for a father’s day sermon.
  • Father’s giving good gifts out of their great love for their children (Matthew 7:11): The New Testament passages talk about how the Father gives good gifts. The goodness of God and His grace and mercy towards His children are evident throughout the Bible, and these could be used to preach a Father’s Day sermon or teach a Sunday School lesson about the goodness of God and how we can seek to imitate Him in our relationships with our sons and daughters.
  • God the Father as the perfect example for how to treat our own children: This one goes with the above, but even deeper, you could go through many qualities of God as the perfect example of fatherhood.
  • The importance of teaching the way of the Lord to our children (Ephesians 6:4): Father’s day would be a great time to remind parents of their responsibility to disciple their children. Even the man who is a young father should understand that he needs to teach god’s word to his children. Single parents can also do the little things to bring up their children the right way according to what God teaches in the Scripture.

I hope these sermon ideas will help you as you celebrate Father’s Day this year.

A few other things to remember are that not all families are the same. A quick search on the internet will show you that fatherlessness statistics that say that 25% of all children live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home. This leads to many consequences. There is much stress on this special day, and many children suffer from abuse or lack of parents in their lives. Many people have a distorted view of what fatherhood is because of the lack of examples in their lives. The church can help with this by doing the small things and helping both young people and adults understand what God intends for the family.

I hope you have a happy father’s day and that these ideas help you with your preparation for such a special day.